The Write 31 Days Challenge – 31 Days,Every Day,One Topic

Day 26

How free are you?

From our experience leading Freedom Session we’ve come to realize that a great number of people sitting in church are living under bondage of some sort and not free in the way Christ meant for us to be (Gal. 5:1).

I know from my personal experience that believers can be under spiritual oppression and not even know it. Many of us are living in fear, loneliness, depression, addiction, and whatever else keeps us from living life to the fullest in Him. That often leads to shame and pretense in our Christian lives.

New life in Christ is exciting and in the beginning we often fly high on a personal pink cloud where everything about life is good and amazing, but over time the reality of living life in this imperfect world sets in. The battle is real my friends, and it is a spiritual one.

In fact, I’ve often heard it said that we shouldn’t give so much credit to the enemy as to talk about spiritual warfare. Let’s keep it positive people!

I’ve known a few people, only a few, who came to faith in Jesus and were immediately set free from every bit of brokenness from their past. Immediate freedom isn’t the norm for most of us average people!

God calls each of us as Christ followers to be powerfully effective and fruit bearing for Him. He has a good plan and a purpose for every one of us. Spiritual attacks come from the realm of Hell with the purpose of shipwrecking our faith and stalling out our destiny in Him.

I talked previously in this series about forgiveness being the key to freedom, and I’ll say it again because I really believe that. Yet teachings on forgiveness aren’t a common Sunday morning messages in a lot of churches. Oh maybe once in awhile we’ll hear a good forgiveness message but how many Christ followers even know that the Bible says that God won’t forgive us if we don’t forgive others? (Matt. 6:15)

The enemy has only one way to shipwreck our faith and that is through deception. That deception may cause us to believe that we are okay in our brokenness and it’s better not to go back and stir up a bunch of “stuff.” It may tell us that we are what we are and that’s the way it will always be. It may keep us in denial that there is anything unholy in our lives that is keeping us from full fellowship with God, or we may justify our unforgiveness toward others because, “You wouldn’t believe the horrible way they treated me!”

He has been defeated and God HAS given us all power and authority over him but through deception he makes us believe that we have to stay stuck. Sometimes we become so buried under supernatural attack that we can’t move forward on our own. We need the help of someone else’s faith to receive breakthrough and freedom.

I believe that everyone would benefit from going through an intense discipleship program like Freedom Session, but having someone who will walk beside you in prayer ministry, counseling, prophetic encouragement to call you forward in your faith, and personal revelations from God in Scripture, are all powerful in exposing the deception of the enemy and helping us move forward into the destiny we’re called to.

Ask God to search you. Is there something you need to lay down or something you need to let go of? Resentment, unforgiveness? Is there something you’re clinging to that you need to let go of? Is there something you need to confess to walk in freedom?

Please don’t try to do this Christian walk alone like I did for so many years. As you know I wasn’t very successful at it! We need other Christ followers who will pray for us when we’re weak and lift us up when we’re are down. We need those who are more mature in their faith and who’ve walked an authentic freedom journey of their own to show us the way to living victorious.

Believe me when I say, filled with the joy of the Lord even as I say this, there is nothing like walking in the light of freedom when you’ve experienced what it is to walk in darkness.

The Write 31 Days Challenge – 31 Days,Every Day,One Topic

Day 12

NOTE (This is a repeat of the disclaimer I posted at the beginning of Day 7): Early on in this series I said that it wasn’t a “tell-all” story, and that while my story is mine to tell, the stories of others who might be hurt in the telling are not. This post contains details about my husband Kelly and his struggles. He has given me permission to share this. In fact, ever since we started speaking about our story together publicly he has told me that I am free to share anything that might be of help to others.

It was Saturday afternoon and the weather was mild as I walked out to check the mailbox. In the box was an envelope addressed to me. It looked like it might be an invitation to a baby shower, or perhaps a thank you note, as the back flap was sealed with cute teddy bear stickers.

I walked back into the house and laid the rest of the mail down before opening the envelope and reading the card inside:

The Write 31 Day Challenge – 31 Days,Every Day,One Topic

Day 11

We were attending church on a pretty regular basis for over a year when word came that Pastor John and Nancy were being called to plant a church in Frisco, Texas. It was hard to lose them because we loved them so much, but Nathan and Rose, a couple we’d bonded with at the church camp out (when they invited us into their motorhome and served us coffee with at least 6 choices of creamer!), became the new leaders of the church. 🙂

It wasn’t long before Pastor Nathan gave Kelly the opportunity to share his recovery story in church services, which was great! Except for . . .

I am Perfectly Imperfect Patti, daughter of the King, wife to the amazing Mr. OTN, mom to two grown daughters, a great son-in-law, and companion to two spoiled dogs. At Old Things New I share DIY’s, budget friendly home transformations, as well as posts about how God transforms our souls. I myself have been made new and I love to share what I’ve learned through WRITING and SPEAKING. To view a short Vimeo of “Our Story” (Mr. OTN and I) please follow the link at the top of the page.

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